Hayes Center, NE 69032 Frost Dates
69032, near Hayes Center, NE: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 05/03, roughly 248 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/10, roughly 159 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Hayes Center in Zone 5b (-15 to -10°F average annual minimum); frost dates are NOAA's 1991-2020 station normal, not this year's forecast.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Hayes Center's growing season runs out in roughly 6 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
How much risk comes with planting early here
05/03 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/20 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/16 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Hayes Center against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 159 frost-free days, Hayes Center places 32,780 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within NE, it ranks 409 of 605.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 69032: the frost range, on how to read the range around Hayes Center's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Hayes Center can differ from the 69032 normal.